Government and Pernambuco close agreement on shared management of Fernando de Noronha| Photo: Herminio Oliveira/Agência Brasil

The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed an agreement with the State of Pernambuco to try to create shared management of the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago. The agreement depends on the approval of the ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), and has no expiration date.

The document on the agreement was filed at the STF, by the Attorney General’s Office (AGU), this Friday (10). And the request needs the approval of Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, rapporteur of the action on the ownership of the archipelago in the STF.

The new agreement goes against former president Jair Bolsonaro’s attempt to federalize Noronha. In March 2022, AGU filed a lawsuit with the STF so that Noronha would not be part of the State of Pernambuco.

With the initiative of the current government, the management of all the islands will be the Union, with the support of the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), and the State of Pernambuco, with the help of the State Agency for the Environment of Pernambuco (CPRH).

According to the AGU document, shared management will focus on ensuring the sustainable use of space and natural resources and regularizing land occupation and local planning. Among the definitions of the agreement is the maintenance of the current urban perimeter. Buildings that do not comply with environmental standards and that cannot be legally approved will be demolished. And the maximum number of tourists in the archipelago will be 11 thousand per month — 132 thousand per year.